Philadelphia Union: Michael Farfan emerging as attacking talent

PHILADELPHIA — There weren’t many bright spots a season ago for the Philadelphia Union in a campaign which saw them mired near the bottom of the MLS Eastern Conference.

But perhaps the crowning achievement was the emergence of Michael Farfan as a premier attacking talent. Even if his ascension was quicker than most expected, there’s no doubt the MLS All-Star’s flashes of brilliance the year prior illustrated his promise. With the vortex of changes around him, both last year and this busy offseason for the Union, Farfan epitomizes the atmosphere of excitement surrounding the team.

“I think we’re excited. I think we’re coming into the season with a new team,” Farfan said Monday as the team continued its preseason training at the NovaCare Complex in Philadelphia. “We still have a lot of the core group from last year. I think we got some really important guys as well in the offseason, and I think we’re just happy to get this season started and see where it takes us.”

Where the season took Farfan and his teammates last year was down an offensively-challenged road. The team lacked an out-and-out striker, and the formation in the first days of John Hackworth’s reign was a pastiche of young players the coach was vetting and veteran remnants of the Peter Nowak regime.

With this season’s blank slate, Hackworth wants to institute an attack-minded, short-passing-fueled game, and Farfan is perfect for such a scheme. He scored once in 32 matches (31 starts) last season and dished a team-high five assists. He has the inventiveness that makes a system like Hackworth’s function in attack and provides enough bite and ball-winning in his tackles to do the job defensively.

His numbers figure to improve with the higher class of finishers such as Conor Casey and Sebastien Le Toux with which Hackworth has augmented the squad. But with the season still five weeks away, Farfan sees the immediate dividends of the changes being an increased competition on the practice pitch on a daily basis.

“I think that’s the best thing about our team right now is that everybody is going to be fighting for a starting spot and everybody is going to be fighting for minutes,” Farfan said. “I think that creates a good environment for the team, and it’ll benefit us in the long run.”

For Farfan, the earmarks of the Hackworth era as compared to that of his predecessor are obvious.

“We’re very organized this season,” he said. “We all know what our part in the organization is, and I think we’re all on the same page and we’re all working towards the same goals.”

•••Among the myriad of new arrivals trying to gain a foothold, Eric Schoenle has a bit of a leg up.

Not only does the native of Yardley and Pennsbury High School grad have a local connection to the Union, but there’s a familiar face in the locker room awaiting him in former West Virginia teammate Ray Gaddis.

Schoenle’s road to the Union wasn’t exactly smooth. The All-American was highly rated by some and traveled to Indianapolis for an MLS SuperDraft in which his name wasn’t called. The 6-2, 147-pound centerback, a consensus pick for the title of best player not drafted thanks to questions over his physicality at the next level, had to wait until the 12th pick of the Supplemental Draft the following week to finally have his name called, a pick the Union traded down for in the first-year player draft to acquire.

Now that he’s in an MLS camp, the draft day memory serves as motivation.

“I was obviously disappointed that I didn’t get picked in the SuperDraft, but I think it gives me a little bit of a chip on my shoulder now,” he said Monday. “I was regarded as one of the best centerbacks in the country by some people, and not getting picked was really disappointing. But now that I’m here, it’s no different. I still have to come in here and work hard. I’m a rookie, and I just have to prove myself.”

•••Hackworth gave a glimpse of his depth chart at practice Monday, dividing his ever swelling squad into three teams for 11-on-11 mini-games.

The first team was composed of Zac MacMath, Chris Albright and Bakary Soumare in defense with Sheanon Williams and Gabriel Farfan on the wings. The midfield comprised Amobi Okugo, captain Brian Carroll and Michael Farfan with Le Toux, Casey and Jack McInerney up front.

The second team was stocked with veteran depth players such as Antoine Hoppenot, Roger Torres, Keon Daniel, Michael Lahoud, Aaron Wheeler and Danny Cruz. Rookies and trialists comprised the final squad. Through the first 20 or so minutes, the only three goals to be scored came from the rookies against the first-teamers, including a well-taken finish by Supplemental draft pick Leo Fernandes.

•••On-loan defender Carlos Valdes has made his impact felt on Colombian club Independiente Santa Fe, scoring the only goal in the second leg of their Superliga Colombiana tie to give his club a 3-1 win on aggregate Sunday.

Independiente had staked itself to a 2-1 lead in the first leg of a triumph over Millonarios, which made a high-profile MLS loan deal this month by taking Seattle Sounders’ Freddy Montero and also includes former undistinguished Union striker Jorge Perlaza. Valdes tweeted a picture of himself holding the Superliga trophy after the game.